Letters

Albuquerque? No Gracias!

Dear Alibi,

Evidently there are pockets of civilization in Albuquerque, as shown by the Alibi and other things, but the face it shows to the visitor is amazingly barbarous and brutish. The hospitality industry in general is inhospitable to the point of using violence on the customers, and even if they accept you they waste no effort on being pleasant. With the exception of Little Anita’s, the popular eating places I tried were dreadful. I have traveled a fair amount, and I have never seen anything like it.

Paul Easton,Hartford, Conn.

Letter to America

Dear Editor,

The Mayflower pilgrims in Heaven would be astonished at American's present-day attitude towards God.

Their strong beliefs in God and Christianity were expressed in the Mayflower Compact. In that Compact they said they did it, "for the glory of God and advancement of the Christian Faith" and signed "in the presence of God."

Over half of those pilgrims died and went to Heaven that winter.

But Hell is where most present-day Americans are headed because of disobedience of God and their unbelief.

Almost daily we see elected officials and other well-known individuals show their defiance towards God when they proudly defend the indefensible. They seem to have no idea that there is a righteous God who created them and that He set rules and Laws by which they are to live by.

Mankind will be judged by those laws and by the Word of God.

America erred greatly when it started its separation from God. His commandment to teach the children diligently all about him, including to keep his commandments, statutes and judgments, was forgotten by the Supreme Court and the other branches of government.

We took God out of America, so we should not be surprised when there seems to be more hate than love in America.

Foolish America has said there is no God, has become morally corrupt, doing abominable and bad things instead of good.

In Jesus name stop the baby killing.

Manuel Ybarra,Colgate Okl.

Flood Damage

Dear Alibi,

As many of you know, Santa Fe and the surrounding area recently sustained a "1000 year flood." La Cienega was hit hard and El Rancho de las Golondrinas sustained major damage as our performance, wedding and burro fields were all flooded and covered with mud and silt. Fences were downed and access to the Raton School House, El Molino Grande and Sierra Village was blocked when the road and bridge to the backside of the Ranch were destroyed by flood waters.

Staff immediately brought in heavy equipment to remove mud and debris, and purchased materials to rebuild the road and bridge. Because of the swift action of staff, the other side of the Museum is already back open. However, there is still more work to do repairing fences, cleaning up debris and removing an enormous logjam further down La Cienega Creek on Museum property. If not removed, this logjam could cause further flooding and damage in the event of heavy rains. We also need to repair our acequia infrastructure as we are currently unable to sufficiently water our historic fields and may lose our crops. As you know, our crops are a major part of our educational programming, are a fundamental part of who we are and are vital to the success of our long-standing Harvest Festival.

The Museum desperately needs your help in funding this work. El Rancho de las Golondrinas is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and contributions referencing this call to action will only be used to repair our flood damage. Anything you can give will be sincerely appreciated. Please send your donation referencing "Flood Damage" to: Kathryn Carey, Director of Development, El Rancho de las Golondrinas, 334 Los Pinos Road, Santa Fe, NM 87507. Thank you for your support of this historic property and our educational mission.

Letters should be sent with the writer’s name, address and daytime phone number via email to letters@alibi.com. They can also be faxed to (505) 256-9651. Letters may be edited for length and clarity, and may be published in any medium; we regret that owing to the volume of correspondence we cannot reply to every letter. Word count limit for letters is 300 words.